Sex, Ruin(s) & (3rd) Space Queer Space Production and Heritage Restoration in Beirut Nour Hamade, Fifth Year, Diploma 6
Final Tables: 17 June 2021
‘Queer’: c. 1500, “strange, peculiar, eccentric,” “to spoil, ruin,” from Scottish, perhaps from Low German queer “oblique, off-centre,” related to German quer “oblique, perverse, odd,” from Old High German twerh “oblique,” from PIE root *terkw- “to twist.” :‘’شاذ “Shath” (adj)/ Shouthouth (noun) translated to “oblique” ‘’لوطي “Louti” ”Kawm Lout,” derived from “People of Lot” The illicit act of sodomy; where the prophet’s father in law burned a ‘louti’ alive for such an act Transferred into colloquial Arab language to depict a “faggot”
Movements in Space
Model for the Public Sphere: Based on Habermas’ theory, circa. 1962
Communication & Space
Model for the Public Sphere: Based on Habermas’ theory, circa. 1962
Communication & Space
Homosphere
Lebanon’s Existing Sphere: and the addition of the homosphere
Can Habermas’ Theory of the Public Sphere be applicable and/or manipulated in order to design Queer spaces in Beirut? Communication & Space
“Ma’un khabar…bass mā byahkū” “They know… but they just don’t talk”
“A queer situation refers to an anomalous condition in relation to what we perceive as normative.” Ghassan Moussawi: Disruptive Situations and Queer Strategies in Beirut, 2020
Act I Identify the needs of members of the queer subculture; their needs, safety, inclusion-related concerns through intersectional relationships.
The Closet / as an introduction
Ange-Jacques Gabriel: Petit Trianon, (MarieAntoinette’s Estate), First Floor. 1768.
Camouflaged Privacy
François Franque: Hôtel Ville-fanche, Ground Floor. 1740.
Claude Nicolas Ledoux: Hotel Thelusson, First Floor. 1778.
Claude Nicolas Ledoux: Hotel Giumard, First Floor. 1773.
“Locus classicus of sexual intrigue”
Ange-Jacques Gabriel: Petit Trianon, (MarieAntoinette’s Estate), First Floor. 1768.
Gendered Taxonomy
François Franque: Hôtel Ville-fanche, Ground Floor. 1740.
Claude Nicolas Ledoux: Hotel Thelusson, First Floor. 1778.
Claude Nicolas Ledoux: Hotel Giumard, First Floor. 1773.
Past
Present
Enlightenment France
Present Day Lebanon
Still from documentaries by Lebanese filmmakers showing queer narratives and the appropriation of existing spaces in Beirut by illicit bodies.
Etienne Clément: Boudoir: An Exhibition Private View. 1720
An individual imprisoned in the eye of the public.
The wall as a product of privacy,
The individual incessantly reconstructs their identity.
Henri Matisse: Le Boudoir. 1921
Gestures and seduction manifest as requisites amongst queer people.
Pierre Maloeuvre: Le Boudoir. 1774.
Objects present the mirror queer version of the self-enclosed identity.
Joseph Paxton: Chateau de Ferrieres. 1859
ashrafieh69 is 137 metres away.
The Salonnière Seventeenth Century - WW1
Queer space offers a clear model for such an architectural counter-artifice.
The City Eighteenth Century - Paris
Queer space is the space of activism and inclusion.
ashrafieh69 is 137 metres away. Activism, protests and riots serve as the platforms (spaces) of visibility. An individual imprisoned in the eye of the public.
The individual incessantly reconstructs their identity.
Gestures and seduction manifest as requisites amongst Queer people.
Objects present the mirrored queer version of the self-enclosed identity. Queer space is the space of activism and inclusion. Queer space cannot be created or designed simply as a safe space.
Queer space offers a clear model for such an architectural counter-artifice.
Sexuality confined in the darkness of the bedroom, or the phone.
Cognitive Dissonance & the Disorientated Queer Body in Beirut
Cognitive Dissonance & the Disorientated Queer Body in Beirut
E-ffect
When does the cycle end? How can the body reclaim its orientation? Is this an opportunity? is this how the world is to be rebuilt? Who is in charge of heritage? Why are we concealing the anomalous? Can we distort social order? What is a non-binary mode of living? Can we be visible? How can space be fluid?
When does the cycle end?
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Is this an opportunity?
Is this how the world is to be rebuilt? How can the body reclaim its orientation?
Why are we concealing the anomalous?
Who is in charge of heritage?
Can we distort social order?
Can we be visible?
E-ffect(s)
How can space be fluid?
What is a non-binary mode of living?
Lecture Hall / Exhibition Space Archives
Destructed house
Studios
Circulation
Structural maintenance Structural rehabilitation
Emergency Housing
Access points appointed
Boudoir
Intermediary spaces created Informal circulation and communication Interior reconstruction and division
Private and public use
Spaces of communication designed
Care of disorientated bodies
Additional public sphere formed
Heritage buildings returned to the city
Co-existing
Bäyt Akhár
Permanent / Transient Housing
Act II Extract potential sites of intervention(s), plots and buildings that require rehabilitation and/or care.
Turkey
Cyprus
Syria Lebanon *Beirut
Iraq
Palestine & Occupied Palestinian Territories Jordan
Saudi Arabia Egypt
Mar Mikhael Disrtict, Beirut, 1900
Heritage: Maintaining…?
Mountains of Lebanon; Shouf area ~ 1820
Who deals with heritage?
Beirut 2020
What happens when there are no systems of care or rehabilitation? The mirrored depiction of a ruin and the other
State of Maintenance
Grid
Plots
Buildings and Radii of the ‘Blast’
Buildings built between 1990 and 2005 (post -civil war)
Buildings that have been Evicted
Plots < 100m2
‘Unbuildable’ Plots
Buildings with Demolition Permits
Impacts of ‘Blast’ on Beirut
Layers of (Dis)order
Act III Survey specific sites to discover context-specific elements or fragments that determine the language of existing structures.
Act IV Determine urgency of physical care to existing structures and spatial possibilities.
Damage
Surveying the Existing Site
Destruction Key: A: Primary Structure B: Secondary Structure C: Openings; Doors and Windows D: Facade Elements; Envelope E: Internal Elements
North
B: Shattered roof wall; 200mm hollow brick construction D: Red roof tiles (used to be imported from Marseilles B: Lightweight wooden roof structure partially destroyed, exposure to high temperatures leads to disruption in cellulose molecules and compounds, impacting the chemical structure of the wood, making it fragile and weak. D: Roof fascias cracked and broken; usually stone construction A/E: Stone wall collapsed; 300mm Ramle stone construction C: Top floor north/west windows destroyed, glazing shattered and wooden window frames mostly destroyed A: Cracks in stone weaken stone wall, endangering stability B/E: Intermediate floor structure dislocated; mosaic tiling on lime and aggregates screed on a timber frame with machine-cut beams carried on large spanned timber or steel I-beams linked to the walls B: Half-wall partially demolished; 300mm Ramle stone construction D: Iron steel balustrade impaired B: Marble balcony floor partially dismantled
B: External staircase still in-tact, might require some structural rehabilitation; pre-fabricated stone construction
A/D: Cracks on plastered stone walls
A: Below ground floor walls reveal some cracks; cross-vaulted rooms in 300mm Ramle stone construction
C/D: Window shutters fallen out of place on ground floor
C/D: Triple arcade bay windows completely destroyed; triple arch on fluted square marble pillars
B: Stone corbels completely destroyed where balcony floor has fallen off
A: Stone foundations unstable due to vibrations, moisture, humidity, and surface abrasion.
Destruction Key: A: Primary Structure B: Secondary Structure C: Openings; Doors and Windows D: Facade Elements; Envelope E: Internal Elements
West
D: Red roof tiles (used to be imported from Marseilles B: Lightweight wooden roof structure partially destroyed, exposure to high temperatures leads to disruption in cellulose molcules and compounds, impacting the chemical structure of the wood, making it fragile and weak. A/E: Stone wall collapsed; 300mm Ramle stone construction C: Top floor north/west windows destroyed, glazing shattered and wooden window frames mostly destroyed E: Internal elements exposed, partially destroyed by exploded rubble D: Iron steel balustrade impaired B/E: Intermediate floor structure dislocated; mosaic tiling on lime and aggregates screed on a timber frame with machine-cut beams carried on large spanned timber or steel I-beams linked to the walls. I-beams collapsed E: Furniture destroyed C: Glazing shattered and wooden window frames destroyed
A: Stone foundations unstable due to vibrations, moisture, humidity, and surface abrasion.
A: Cracks in stone weaken stone wall, endangering stability A/D: Cracks on plastered stone walls
E: Internal steel rods exposed C/D: Window shutters fallen out of place
Act V + VI Rebuild the ruin and (re)design the network of spaces to create a gradient of privacy within and their relationship to the internal and external members, the public and the city. + Ultimately, design a shared platform that will question the normative whilst generating a safe space of inclusion within the institution and its affiliations.
A Framed Sequence
Preservation
Demolition
Restoration
(Adaptive) Re-Use
Space A1: Archive
A2: Shared Workspace/Studio B1: Exhibition/ Multi-functional room B2: Communal discussion zone B3: Counseling / Private boudoir
B4: Public GenderNeutral toilets C1: Transient/ Permanent Hosusing C2: Communal Living Room C3: Shared Residents Study C4: Shared Laundry Facilities D1 : Emergency Housing D2 : Open Storage Space E1: Kitchen & Dining E2 : Extra Living Space E3: Lockers and Storage
Catalogue of Spaces
Area
6am 12pm Use: time of day
6pm
Diagrammatic sequence of spaces
A Controlled Venue
‘Badak Beera? ‘
Patchwork Infill
A New Surface Emerges
Heavy / Light
They deal with the gruelling gaze of society and the ramifications of their difference.
Uncensored
“Hey, didn’t we meet on Tinder?”
I'm ± Here
The Gruelling Gaze
They demarcate their space
Demarcate
Their identity remains intact, but their order is shifted
Temporary Haven
A shared collective
Shared Buffer
Act VII How can space be fluid?
Gradient of Visibility
From the Object to the City